Getting Control of Your Money is a Cinch

I have been compensated for the writing of this post. Regardless, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.

When your money’s not awesome, it can be really tempting to ignore the problem. To bury your head in the sand, ignore the mass of credit cards statements piling up on the counter, and go about your life as if money weren’t an issue.

But money is an issue for all of us, no matter how much or little we bring in. Ignoring it is a real quick way to let things spiral out of control.

Enter Cinch

If you have a tendency to reach budget exhaustion, ignore your finances or simply don’t know which financial move to make next, there’s a new tool on the market that can help you.

Cinch is your personal CFO. You input your financial data, and Cinch looks at your entire financial picture. After assessing where you are, it gives you suggestions for what to do next—and warns you against financial actions you, personally, shouldn’t pursue as you work to better your money.

Here’s a video that shows you exactly what to expect:

Cinch has Zero Ads

Some financial sites and apps—especially free ones—make money by suggesting certain financial products. When you open or apply for that product, the app earns a commission. The whole process can make you feel a little uncomfortable:

Are these products being suggested because they’d be good for me, or because the payout would be good for that company?

Cinch’s product recommendations are not ads, and they never will be. That means what’s recommended to you is absolutely popping up because it’s good for you. Because they don’t receive a commission on these products, they also offer a wider array of solutions than other apps traditionally do. They claim to have a comprehensive inventory of every company, product, rate, etc. in the financial marketplace.

Cinch is a Fiduciary

A big reason that Cinch decided not to take the commission-on-ads route is because they hold a fiduciary responsibility to their users. This means that they have to act in the best interest of you rather than the best interest of some big bank or their own financial interests.

How Does Cinch Make Money?

Initially when you sign up for Cinch, you’ll fall under a 90-day free trial. Then you’ll be moved up to a small monthly fee of $4.99. The app is extremely likely to make or save you more money than the monthly fee, but if at any point you feel that it’s not doing that, you can cancel your subscription at any time.

Cinch Uses Behavioral Economics

Most of us have a decent idea of what we should be doing with our money. It’s just that we don’t actually do it.

This is called behavioral economics, and it’s the philosophy Cinch has built its AI around. That’s a major reason there may be potential solutions Cinch explicitly does not recommend for your situation; it may be a good solution in theory, but Cinch knows you well enough to know that in real life, there’s a strong possibility that you’ll botch it.

What Can Cinch Help Me With?

Cinch operates across four different realms:

Credit and Debt

Cinch currently helps with:

Credit card debt

Personal loans

Student loan debt will be added by the end of the year

Consumption

Cinch currently helps with:

Spending behavior

Rewards optimization

Wallet consolidation

Spending challenges

Safe spending numbers

Cash Reserves

Cinch currently helps with:

Emergency funds

Account fees

Overdraft fees

ATM fees

Protection

Cinch currently helps with:

Term life insurance

Auto insurance

Coming in 2018

There are a lot of other areas in development, which you’ll see added to the app in 2018:

Auto financing

Picking a cell phone plan

Cell phone purchases

Cable/streaming/internet choices

Larger purchases

Mortgage purchases

Refinancing purchases

Expense allocation

Goal-based savings

ID theft protection

Credit monitoring

Health insurance

Homeowners’ insurance

Renters insurance

How Do I Get Cinch?

I’m in Cinch’s Beta right now, and really like how it’s such a holistic service. You don’t have to hop around to five different programs to figure out what the next best move is; Cinch’s AI literally does all that for you.

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DISCLAIMER

This blog is written for entertainment purposes only. I am not a financial professional in any way shape or form. The information that is found here are my opinions and the opinions of other readers and should not be taken as financial advice. I try to only post about things I think will be helpful to my readers and have experience with, but anything that happens as a result of you using the information provided is your responsibility alone.